water use in textiles
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Water Use in Textiles. Phil Patterson Managing Director, Colour Connections Consultancy ltd. The Rime of the Modern Clothier. Water, water, everywhere, And all the brains did shrink, Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Industrial Use. ~100 – 150 l/kg Scouring Dyeing - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Water Use in Textiles
Phil PattersonManaging Director, Colour Connections
Consultancy ltd
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The Rime of the Modern Clothier
Water, water, everywhere, And all the brains did shrink,Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink
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Industrial Use
• ~100 – 150 l/kg
• Scouring• Dyeing• Washing• Heating!• Cooling!• (don’t forget fibre)
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Domestic Laundry
• ~10 – 15 l/kg/wash
• Washing• Rinsing
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.......not just water
• Energy to heat it• Chemicals in it• Pollution
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Industry• Use high temperatures• Inefficient• Indirect heating– Boiler makes steam– Steam shipped to machines– Heat exchanger
• What’s insulation?• Water used for cooling• Often no effluent treatment
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Domestic
• Uses lower temperatures
• Low chemical usage• Direct heating– Water heated in
machine
• Or from insulated hot water source
• Always to an ETP
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Durability means Sustainability
• 150 l/kg per kg to produce
• (20,150 l/kg for cotton)• 15 l/kg per kg to wash• Items washed 10 times
or less have bigger production impact!
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Durability means Sustainability
• Factor in cotton growing
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Is water used or ‘borrowed’?
• Some always used– (evaporation)
• It’s never put back in form it was taken
• Water-recycling massively under-utilised
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Fashion Crime
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Number 1 Fashion Crime
•Pollution• Most pollution is where
water is plentiful– India– Bangladesh– China
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Actions
• Shift focus to textile production• Priority
1. Traceability2. Compliance with environmental laws3. Reduction in needless textile consumption4. Reduction in water consumption
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Traceability – The foundation of everything
• How to achieve it– Legislation?– Shame, Pressure?– Brand co-operation?– Fashion media
• Everyone fears traceability– “commercial sensitivities”– Fear of what will be found
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Compliance
• Who?– Retailers?• Makes them higher cost
– Governments?• Short term damage to economy
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Textile Consumption
• Lower volumes• Higher value• Prices to reflect true
cost• Taxes based on volumes
bought/sold?
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Reducing Water Consumption
• Evolution or revolution?– Right first time– Best available technology – Re-cycling – Liquid carbon dioxide– Marginalisation of cotton (Kyoto style targets)– Product labelling based on facts not hype
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Summary
• Water ‘use’ is not always an issue• Pollution is the major issue• Energy use associated with water use is a
major issue• Focus on industry not domestic• Best practice could halve water consumption
in dyeing